Another whirlwind week for the STS-90 crew. Pappy, Scooter
and Buffy had great runs in the Vertical Motion Simulator at Ames Research Center,
STA runs at White Sands, and a very challenging ascent session. The payload crew
had several challenging integrated training runs with some of the more complex
experiments, but spent the majority of their time in baseline data collections,
including monitored sleep studies, pulmonary function testing, virtual environment
experiments, and two experiments to test motor performance in microgravity.
We account for the effects of gravity in everyday life without thinking about it.
However, in microgravity simple reaching and grasping tasks may be accompanied by
accentuated movements as our muscles "retool" for microgravity. These experiments
examine this effect and the relearning process that occurs with time in flight.

Orbiter integration is proceeding well, and the excitement
continues to build. Stay tuned, thereís more to come!